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American Historical Collection
Hal Katzman
Manila-Dagupan Railroad pass through it instead of Bacolor, thus
facilitating the transfer of the capital during the US occupation.
On the other hand, the good fortune of Angeles is that the new
colonizers, as soon as they arrived, built their military camp (Fort
Stotsenburg, later Clark Air Base) in the vicinity of Angeles. Had
these two events not occurred, neither San Fernando nor Angeles
could have become the bustling cities that they are today. It can
be said that San Fernando is the capital that the Americans built,
just as Bacolor was the capital that the Spaniards built. It can
also be said that Angeles is the city that the Americans unconsciously
built.
But of course, Angeles progressed ahead of San Fernando; it
became a chartered city as early as 1964 (San Fernando became
a component city only in 2001, or 37 years later). When the US
military base left after the eruption of Mount Pinatubo, Angeles
suffered an economic setback that allowed San Fernando to catch
up.
Today, both are doing fine, San Fernando as the regional hub
and Angeles as a charming city at the foothills of the volcano.
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Between the two, San
Fernando is better situated,
right at the crossroads
of the Olongapo-
Gapan business corridor;
however, the perennial
floods in the city’s historical
district have shifted
the focus of economic activity
southeast to Mexico
and ironically, south towards
Angeles.
Angeles, on the other
hand, is creating its own
business corridor between
Subic and Clark; since the
1990s, while the former US
military base was reinventing
itself into a shopping
and recreational center,
Angeles has been trying
to wobble up on its own
two feet.
As the two cities of the
Kapampangan Region (a
third city in the
Kapampangan Region is
Tarlac City) grow and try
to outpace each other,
they will eventually
osmosize and become one
metropolis. One day a
mega city will encompass
San Fernando, Angeles and
the surrounding urbanized
areas like Dau, Mabalacat,
Clark Field, maybe even
Mexico, Sto. Tomas,
Bacolor and Guagua. It
may even merge with
Metro Manila. That’s good
news to many people, but
it can be the worst possible
scenario for
Kapampangan culture,
which has been struggling
for many years now to
move out of Manila’s sphere of influence.
The destiny of the two Kapampangan cities of San Fernando
and Angeles has reached the fork down the road: they will either
lead the rest of the towns towards a cultural and economic renaissance,
or—because of sheer proximity—become the invitation
to Manila’s deadly tentacles, which are already knocking at
Pampanga’s door via NLEX. Today, San Fernando has the most
active local arts and culture council in the region; for its part,
Angeles is home to a number of research centers, museums, organizations
and universities which are the leading proponents of
Kapampangan studies and culture. Still, these initiatives and good
intentions may not be enough to stop the tsunami of Manilazation
that will hit the province, sooner rather than later.
TURNING POINTS. During the Spanish Period, San Fernando and Angeles were obscure towns
compared to the more progressive towns like Bacolor, Macabebe and Mexico, until the Manila-
Dagupan Railroad, built in 1892, passed through San Fernando (top photo), and Fort Stotsenburg/
Clark Air Base (above) was put up near Angeles in 1903, and things were never the same again for
the two Kapampangan towns.
References: Ing Pangatatag ning Balen Angeles by Nicolas Vicente
Navarro (1840); A Brief History of the Town of Angeles by Mariano A.
Henson; Fast Urbanization in the Philippine Context: A Multi-Scalar
Analysis of the Province of Pampanga by Jean-Christophe Gaillard; Luther
Parker Collections (University of the Philippines-Diliman)